Actions for taxes in case of failure or refusal to pay; penalty

In case any association, copartnership or corporation subject to the provisions of this article shall fail or refuse to pay any taxes assessed against it in any county or township in the State, in addition to other remedies provided by law for the collection of taxes, an action may be prosecuted in the name of the State by the solicitors of the different judicial circuits of the State on the relation of the auditors of the different counties of the State. In any such action the amount of the assessment fixed by the department and apportioned to such county, or apportioned by the county auditor to any particular township, shall not be controverted, and the judgment in such action shall include a penalty of fifty per cent of the amount of taxes as assessed and unpaid, together with reasonable attorneys' fees for the prosecution of such action.